NBA Scathing Mad And The Cleveland Cavaliers Don’t Care
The NBA isn’t happy with the Cleveland Cavaliers after the team decided it would rest Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and LeBron James in a marquee matchup against the Clippers Saturday night.
Clippers season ticket holders should’ve been looking at the schedule last week as the San Antonio Spurs and the Golden State Warriors rested their teams during a primetime matchup last weekend.
If they had, they might’ve realized within 10 seconds they should throw their Cavs tickets onto StubHub.
Sure, the idea of a Cavs-Clippers on primetime sounded good. Chris Paul versus Kyrie Irving. LeBron James and Blake Griffin. Kevin Love and DeAndre Jordan. It’s a league of superstars, and this contest was loaded with them.
But just as you got excited about the prospect of seeing these All-Stars, the cold, boring reality of NBA scheduling should’ve smacked you in the face.
The Cavs were playing their fourth game in seven nights and playing the first leg of a back-to-back. In mid-March. Alarm, please. Stars such as James, Irving and Love were going to sit one game in LA, it just turned out to be in the marquee matchup against the Clippers.
With the Cavs resting all of their superstars, the game had all of the makings of a massive dud, and it was, with Cleveland’s 38.6 percent field-goal percentage ensuring that it was unwatchable.
For the second weekend in a row, the NBA was disgraced on primetime television. Last week, the Warriors and Spurts disappointed countless fans by playing the JV. This time, it was the Cavs, who in their only away game against the Clippers, were without their Big 3.
Naturally, all of the talk during the game, on the broadcast, at halftime, and on Twitter, centered around Cleveland’s decision to “rest” their stars.
The NBA was fuming. A high profile game in Los Angles, broadcast on ABC, a media partner coughing up $2.8 billion to air games? Clearly, Adam Silver and his gang at the league office were miffed. Cavs’ GM David Griffin said it too the league office all of seven minutes to contact the organization about their decision.
Who knows what the Cavs said to the league during the phone call, but during the postgame scrum, Griffin made it be known that he doesn’t give a rip.
What about the league's concern re fans and ABC paying a lot of $? Griff said, "Yeah, and they’re paying me to win a championship."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
If you’re a fan, and you paid money to attend that game with the hopes of seeing LeBron, Kyrie and Love, you’ve got a right to be mad.
The league has a problem, as Griffin noted, but he also preached truth.
Griff: "I feel bad for the league. I really do. But it is what it is for us from an injury standpoint."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
Now Griffin and the Cavs will argue that only one of their guys truly “rested.” Griffin contends that Irving was legitimately injured (sore left knee). If this game meant something, Irving would’ve played. Love’s excuse was legit. His return from knee surgery has been widely publicized.
And LeBron? A player whose coach get criticized because he plays him too much? With his fellow celebrity hoopsters out, the Cavs thought it better to rest LeBron to give Cleveland a better shot against the Lakers, instead of making him carry the team against a far superior Clippers squad.
Resting players, is a problem. It’s the NBA’s problem, not the Cavs. Spurs coach Greg Popopvich has done this for years, and has rings to vindicate his strategy. If NBA executives don’t like what they saw Saturday night, fix the scheduling problem.
Surely, this argument will ignite an old-school, new-school feud. Just look at the text Karl Malone sent Sage Steele, which the broadcaster read aloud during halftime.
(1/2) HOF'er Karl Malone: "if you don't have at least 10 yrs experience, get your a** playing. It's not work, it's called playing. Besides..
— Sage Steele (@sagesteele) March 19, 2017
(2/2) "...tell our underpaid service members & police & first responders to rest. Dammit, they can't"
— Sage Steele (@sagesteele) March 19, 2017
The outrage during the broadcast, both in the halftime studio and in the play-by-play booth was over the top. The topic was something to talk about, that viewers could relate to, but it was excessive. I flipped over to the NCAA tourney because the broadcast became dominated by whining. At times, I forgot I was watching a game. Instead it seemed like Skip Bayless was trying to hi-jack the show.
More from Factory of Sadness
- Bet $1 on ANYTHING to Unlock $200 Guaranteed with Crazy Bet365 Ohio Promo!
- 3 reasons why the Cleveland Cavaliers have a good shot to win the East next year
- It might be too soon to say it but it looks like the Cleveland Guardians are back
- Are the Cleveland Browns a Top 10 roster heading into the 2023 season?
- Eastern Conference Solidarity: Back the Heat with $5 Bet, Win $200 Bonus INSTANTLY with DraftKings Promo
This problem just highlights how drawn out and boring an NBA season can be. Take last week’s Clippers-Warriors game. The Clippers were just 1 1/2 games behind the Warriors in the West, and still sat their stars! The NBA schedule proves on a nightly basis that it is a long, drawn-out 82 game exhibition season. Four teams have a legit shot to win it all (Warriors, Clippers, Cavs, Spurs) and the real season starts with the first-round of the playoffs.
If the NBA is doing one thing, it should have non-season ticket holders trained in how to read a schedule and how to buy tickets at this time of year. I’d think twice, and even three times about going to see a Cavs regular season game in March or April.
Heck, even if someone gave me tickets, I’d be Googling the schedule to find out if LeBron and gang were coming off a back-to-back or playing their fourth game in five nights.
The NBA. Making me a smarter consumer. I love this game!